Hong Kong Financial Secretary Warns Economy is Facing its “worst time in 20 years”
Hong Kong’s financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah warned recently that the city’s economy is facing its “worst time in 20 years”. In the past half a decade, growth has more than halved to close to 2.5 percent. With Brexit chills, some analysts fear a contraction.
The writing has been on the wall since the global financial crisis. Yet, critical decisions have been delayed.
Growth engines fading
Hong Kong’s old growth drivers remain necessary but are no longer enough. In the past, export-led growth fueled Asia’s tigers, including Hong Kong. Today, advanced West can no longer absorb Asian imports, and China’s growth is decelerating.
Last spring, concerns about Hong Kong’s economy led some ratings agencies to downgrade their outlook to negative, after similar action on China. But while the mainland can still rely on catch-up growth and rising living standards, Hong Kong’s aging economy must do with slower growth, stagnant living standards and income polarization.
Divisive, Illiberal and Calculating' Theresa May to be UK Prime Minister
"It is simply inconceivable that...May should be crowned prime minister without even having won an election in her own party, let alone the country"
#WebOfDenial: Senators to Call Out Big Oil's Blockade of Climate Action
Senators condemn industry's "massive campaign to deceive the public about climate change"
Republicans Back Exxon’s Right To Be A Climate Denier
The latest development in a now tit-for-tat battle over the so-called ‘web of denial’ that fossil fuel companies are increasingly being accused of spinning over decades, in order to delay action on climate change.
Draft Republican Platform Calls for Annexation of Area C of West Bank
The so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been a distraction to buy time for the Israelis to annex most of the West Bank, and will be tangled up in the unexamined question of controlling access to scarce water resources.
